This blog features my weekly column called "What's up in the sky". It is published every Saturday in the Ellensburg newspaper, Daily Record (http://www.kvnews.com/). While my postings will be most accurate for Central Washington, readers throughout the northern USA may find something of use.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

The Sun is
in the same part of the sky as the stars of Ophiuchus from about November 29 to
December 17. This is what astrologers mean when they say the Sun is “in” a
constellation. Thus, if you were born between these dates, you should be an
Ophiuchus. The fact that the horoscopes never list Ophiuchus is a major flaw of
astrology. Astrology says that some of our characteristics are based on the
location of the Sun at our birth. How can astrologers leave out three weeks
from their system? That is like a scientist saying she can explain the results
of her experiment every month of the year except early December. Ophiuchus was
a mythical healer who was a forerunner to Hippocrates. According to myth, he
could raise people from the dead. Maybe that is why he is ignored by astrology.
Raising people from the dead is much less impressive than giving spot-on advice
such as “Today is a good day to watch your finances.”

The bright
stars of Ophiuchus rise just before the Sun. Rasalhague (pronounced
Ras’-al-hay’-gwee), the brightest star, is about a half a fist held upright and
at arm’s length above the east-northeast horizon at 6:30 a.m.

Sunday: Is
that favorite astronomy-loving relative of yours asking for a telescope this
Christmas? Well, she’s your favorite so get her what she wants with cost being
no object. But if that so-so relative of yours would like a telescope, look no
further than this Sky and Telescope article about low cost telescopes http://goo.gl/40zd6. The
authors review and recommend three telescopes for under $100 at the time of
publication. If your hated acquaintance wants an astronomy gift, show them a
copy this column. After such a dud “gift”, you’ll never hear from them again.
And that may be the best gift of all.

Monday: Jupiter
is one fist above the east-northeast horizon at 11 p.m.

Tuesday:
Have you been shopping all weekend? Do you need an evening sky break? You deserve
a big reward so make it a double. A Double Cluster, that is. The Double
Cluster, also known as h and Chi Persei, consists of two young open star
clusters in the constellation Perseus. Of course, young is a relative term as
these clusters are about 13 million years old. Each cluster is spread out over
an area about the same size as the full moon. To the naked eye, the Double
Cluster shines with a steady, fuzzy glow. Binoculars resolve dozens of
individual stars in the clusters. The Double Cluster is six fists above the
northeast horizon at 6 p.m., about a fist below the sideways “W” of Cassiopeia
and three fists above the bright star Capella.

Wednesday:
Have you even seen a Black Hole? Neither have scientists. But they have seen
the effects of a Black Hole. Black holes have a strong gravitational influence
on anything that passes close to them, including light. Cygnus X-1, the first
Black Hole candidate ever discovered, is six fists above the west horizon at 7
p.m., in the middle of the neck of Cygnus the swan. NASA launched the Chandra
X-ray observatory in 1999 to study black hole candidates and other high-energy
events.

Thursday: I
am guessing that some of you don’t like the line of reasoning from Wednesday:
that seeing the effects of a Black Hole is good enough to claim there are Black
Holes. You have never seen the wind. But, you have seen the effects of the
wind. And no Ellensburg resident doubts the existence of the wind.

Friday: Saturn
is more than a half a fist above the east-southeast horizon at 7 a.m. Because
of this, I am no longer calling it a challenging object to find.

The
positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically
accurate for the entire week. For up to date information about the night sky,
go to http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.

Saturday: The
Nature of Night event takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Science
Building on the CWU campus. There will be planetarium shows, fun nighttime
projects, telescopes, animals, cookies and much more. Do you want to learn more
about what goes on at night in the natural world? You can at this event. The
event is free. You could go to http://www.cwu.edu/cesme/node/2561
for more
information. But why go to a computer. Instead, go directly to the Science
Building, I-8 on the map found at http://www.cwu.edu/facility/campus-map.
The
Center for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Education gets help from
various community organizations to put on this event.

Sunday:
Are you disappointed because you are not going anywhere for Thanksgiving? Why
not take a (virtual) trip to outer space using Google’s new visualization tool
called 100,000 Stars. It shows the stars in our neighborhood in a very good
simulation of 3-D. The Sun is initially at the center. If you zoom in, you can
click on neighboring stars and learn more about them. For more information and
a link to the tool, go to http://goo.gl/hg6Oc.

Tuesday: Mars
is less than a fist to the lower left of the young crescent moon.

Wednesday:
Are you thankful that you live in a solar system with multiple planets? You
should be. A giant planet like Jupiter cleans up planetary debris that could
have collided with Earth and hindered the formation of complex life. Any
inhabitants of the planets orbiting Upsilon Andromedae are thankful for this,
as well. Upsilon Andromedae, a star in the constellation Andromeda, was the
first Sun-like star discovered to have multiple planets orbiting it. So far, all
of its planets are giant planets like Jupiter. But, the system is likely to
also contain smaller planets. The dim star, but certainly not its planets, is
barely visible straight overhead at 9 p.m. Jupiter is much easier to see, about
one fist above the east-northeast horizon at 11 p.m.

Thursday:
Some of us have a lot to be thankful for on Thanksgiving. But, probably not as
much as Andromeda had to be thankful for. According to Greek mythology, the
beautiful princess Andromeda was chained to a rock next to the ocean. Cetus the
sea monster was about to devour her in order to punish her family. Her mother
Queen Cassiopeia and her father King Cepheus didn’t know what to do. It seemed
that all was lost. But, along came Andromeda’s boyfriend, the great warrior
Perseus. Even though Perseus’ standing as the son of King Zeus and the slayer
of Medusa was probably enough to win Andromeda under normal circumstances,
Andromeda’s impending death-by-sea-monster was not a normal circumstance. So,
Perseus drove his sword into the sea monster’s neck and killed it. This was the
first time in recorded history that a set of parents actually welcomed an
uninvited Thanksgiving visit from the boyfriend. Perseus is about five fists
above the east-northeast horizon and Andromeda is about seven fists above the
east horizon at 7 p.m.

Friday: Do
you need a post-Thanksgiving challenge? Get up before 6:45 a.m. and look low in
the east-southeast sky. If you are lucky or if you have binoculars, you may
spot Saturn about a half a fist above the horizon at 7a.m. If is slowly moving
out of the Sun’s glare and into the pre-dawn sky.

The
positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically
accurate for the entire week. For up to date information about the night sky,
go to http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Saturday: When you think of space, the first image that comes
to mind is a few large, massive bodies surrounded by a lot of empty space.
After all, it is called “outer space”, not “outer stuff”. But that so-called
empty space is filled with powerful radiation and high-speed sub-microscopic particles.
Much of this is dangerous to life. However, many planets, including Earth, have
a shield against radiation and particles called a magnetic field. Jupiter’s
magnetic field is the strongest of all the planets. Find Jupiter one fist held
upright and at arm’s length above the east horizon at midnight. For more
information about magnetic fields, go to http://goo.gl/OYShj.

Sunday: The Leonid meteor shower peaks tonight and tomorrow
morning. These meteors appear to come from a point in the constellation Leo the
lion. This point is about one fist held upright and at arm’s length above the
east-northeast horizon at midnight tonight. You can follow this point
throughout the night and into the morning, as it will remain about one fist
above the bright star Regulus. The waning crescent moon will be doing its part
to stay out of the way meaning even the dimmer meteors will be visible. The
Leonid meteors are particles from the tail of Comet Tempel-Tuttle, a comet
discovered by Ernst Tempel and Horace Parnell Tuttle in 1866. These are
exceptionally fast moving meteors – over 150,000 miles per hour! Go to http://goo.gl/GkLiw7 to read everything you
need to know about the Leonid meteor shower. As your Mother might say, dress
warm and sit in a comfortable chair for maximum enjoyment.

Monday: Mars is one fist above the southwest horizon at 6
p.m.

Tuesday: Most constellations don’t look like the object
their name refers to. Most constellations don’t have such a simple to object to
emulate as Triangulum. As you probably guessed, Triangulum is shaped like a
princess. Wait…. Just a second…. I read my book wrong. Triangulum is shaped
like a thin isosceles triangle. Mothallah is the only named star in the
constellation. In Latin this star is called Caput Trianguli, the head of the
triangle. Triangulum is seven fists held upright and at arm’s length above the
south horizon at 9 p.m. It is pointing down and to the right with Mothallah
being the southernmost star at this time of night. The Triangulum Galaxy can be
seen with binoculars about a half a fist to the right of Mothallah.

Wednesday: The bright star Spica is about two finger widths
below the moon at 6:30 a.m.

Thursday: “Lately, I’ve been, I’ve been losing sleep.
Dreaming about the things that we could be. But baby, I’ve been, I’ve been
praying hard, said no more counting dollars. We’ll be counting 9.096 stars,
yeah we’ll be counting 9,096 stars.” Luckily, artistic judgment prevailed over
scientific precision in the OneRepublic hit “Counting Stars.”. According to the
Yale Bright Star Catalog, there are 9,096 stars visible to the naked eye across
the entire sky if you are observing from a very dark site. In the northern
United States, where a part of the sky is never visible, that number drops to
about 6,500. In the middle of a small city at mid-latitudes, like Ellensburg,
that number drops to a few hundred. No wonder someone has been losing sleep.
Learn more about the star count at http://goo.gl/nt8d80.

Friday: Friday: The Nature of Night event takes place
tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Science Building on the CWU campus.
There will be planetarium shows, fun nighttime projects, telescopes, animals,
cookies and much more. Go to http://www.cwu.edu/cesme/node/2561
for more information.

The positional information in this column about stars and
planets is typically accurate for the entire week. For up to date information
about the night sky, go to http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Saturday: Imagine
Opie and Andy Taylor walking down the dirt path at night to that fishing hole
in the sky. They’d probably be looking to catch Pisces, the two fish already
conveniently tied together with two ropes. The ropes are connected at the star
Alrescha, Arabic for “the cord”. Alrescha is four fists held upright and at
arm’s length above due south at 10:30 p.m. The fish are attached to lines of
stars that branch out at one o’clock and three o’clock from Alrescha. By the
way, “The Fishing Hole”, The Andy Griffith Show’s theme song, was rated the 20th
best TV theme song of all time by ign.com. That’s too low of a rating in my
opinion.

Sunday: While
Stonehenge is an ancient burial ground visited by religious people for
thousands of years, MIThenge is an 825-foot long hallway on the campus of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology visited by the Sun’s rays twice a
year.Every year in November and
January, the setting Sun lines up with a narrow window at the end of the long
hall and the light shines down to the opposite end. This season’s alignment is
from November 10-13. For more information, visit http://goo.gl/0hwFQfor
visit MIT.

Monday: We
wish you a Merry Martinmas. We wish you a Merry Martinmas. We wish you a Merry
Martinmas. And a happy Monday. Martinmas is a holiday in many parts of the
world commemorating Saint Martin of Tours. He was buried on November 11, 397.
What does this have to astronomy? Not much except that the celebration on
November 11 often doubles as a cross-quarter day celebration, a day that is
halfway between an equinox and a solstice.

Tuesday: The
Northern Taurid meteor shower peaks the next two nights. The best time to
observe this shower is mid evening before the moon rises at about 9 p.m. Under
the best conditions, you can expect about 10 meteors an hour with some of them
being bright fireballs. A few weeks ago, the related Southern Taurid meteor
shower produced many fireball sightings in the southwest United States. Meteor
showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to
originate. These meteors appear to come from a point in Taurus the bull, near
the open star cluster called the Pleiades. This point is about three fists above
the east horizon at 8 p.m. You can follow this point throughout the night, as
it will remain one fist above the V-shaped Hyades Cluster with its bright star
Aldebaran (pronounced Al-deb’-a-ran). Meteors are tiny rocks that burn up in
the atmosphere when the Earth runs into them. These rocks are broken off parts
of Comet 2P/Encke.

Wednesday:
Mars is one fist above the southwest horizon at 6 p.m., just above the setting
teapot asterism. An asterism is a recognizable pattern of stars in the night
sky. The Big Dipper is probably the best-known asterism.

Thursday: Jupiter
is one fist above the east-northeast horizon at midnight.

Friday: Lieutenant
Worf, the Klingon Starfleet officer on Star Trek: The Next Generation, might
say “Today is a good day to die.” But Deneb, the bright supergiant star in Cygnus
the Swan would say “two million years from now is a good day to die.” This may
seem like a long time. But, compared to most stars, two million years from now
is as close as today. For example, the Sun will last about five billion years. Small
stars known as red dwarfs may last trillions of years. Prepare your
astronomically short good byes to Deneb tonight at 8 o’clock when it is six
fists above the west horizon.

The
positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically
accurate for the entire week. For up to date information about the night sky,
go to http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.